The fourth day of NBA Playoffs basketball is upon us and the big match tonight sees the Mavs face the Clippers in Los Angeles for Game 2 of the series with just one question in mind: Kyrie and Doncic to bounce back? After their rather embarrassing defeat on Sunday evening, which say Dallas score just 30 points in the first half (and remarkably only 8 in the second quarter), the Mavericks need to quickly bounce back. Jason Kidd’s team need to especially take advantage of Kawhi Leonard’s absence within the Clippers’ ranks – when he’s healthy, he’s just about the best defender in the league. He will likely not be playing tonight, but he also likely won’t be out for too much longer. The Clippers’ first playoff game this season (without Leonard) was an absolute success. Led by James Harden, the LA side were amazing defensively, conceding less than 100 points to arguably the best offensive team in the NBA.
On the flip side the Mavs will need their role players to step up and for Doncic to have a much more efficient game. He did have 33 points on Sunday, but he was 11 of 26 from the floor. Doncic and Kyrie combined for 64 points in Game 1, while the rest of the team had just 33 points combined! This is nowhere near good enough, especially if the role players are also poor on the defensive side of the ball – the Mavs starting center Daniel Gafford had no rebounds on Sunday in 14 minutes of play. Tonight, the pressure is on the Mavericks, who came into this series with a slight edge according to many bookmakers – which became wide once it was apparent Leonard would not feature, at least initially. If Doncic and Kyrie are simply a bit more efficient, they will win this matchup tonight. It will tough for Harden to defend his former Brooklyn Nets teammate as well as he did on Sunday, while Doncic will simply have to solw the pace down and find the right shots.
This will be a thoroughly entertaining game, as I don’t expect the Mavericks to certainly be blown out as they were a couple days ago. If they lose this game in Los Angeles and Leonard returns for the two games in Dallas, this could well be a 4 or 5 game series. I am confident however that they will find their way to victory tonight: they were humiliated on Sunday, and if they don’t bounce back, it will be a testament to the players’ and Jason Kidd’s own motivational failures. I suggest playing a Mavericks win & over 216.5 points, as both teams can be explosive in attack – at 3.30. For a less risky play, go for Doncic to score over 33.5 points. He had 33 points in a very inefficient night – if he gets going tonight, he could well score over 40. The NBA Playoffs are finally entering a crucial stage of Round 1: who will make the jump to the Conference semifinals?
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Dallas Mavericks to Win – 1.83
LA Clippers to Win – 2.00
